Battle of Pulang Lupa Historical Site

Marinduque Day

Remembering the Battle of Pulang Lupa

The Battle of Pulang Lupa Historical Site
Torrijos, Marinduque - September 13, 2011

Battle of Pulang Lupa Celebration Images from the previous years

Flags representing the six Municipalities of the Province



The Battle of Pulang Lupa was an engagement fought on September 13, 1900, during the Philippine-American War between the forces of Colonel Maximo Abad and Devereux Shields, in which Abad's men defeated the American force.

Philippine Historical Institute's Marker

A brief History of the Historic Battle


On September 11

Captain Devereux Shields led a detachment of 54 29th U.S. Volunteer Infantrymen into the mountains of Torrijos to combat the elusive Abad and his guerillas. They experienced little success, except for the dispersing of 20 guerillas, in which no casualties were inflicted on either side.
Abad had excellent intelligence and was informed of Shields' movements by the local guerillas ahead of time. In response, he assembled his entire force of 250 regular Filipino soldiers and around 1,000-2,000 bolomen. The regular Philippine soldiers were well organized and reasonably well armed with bolos, pistols, and Spanish Mausers, despite the fact that most were poor shots. The bolomen, armed only with machetes or bolos, served mainly to bolster Abad's forces. Dressed as friendly farmers or civilians in the day time, they took part in guerilla activities at night. Ambushing small detachments of American soldiers, sabotage, and most importantly, supplying Abad with intelligence on American positions and movements. They had little military value however, considering they had no firearms.

On September 13

Abad positioned his men along a steep ridge overlooking the trail which Shields would soon cross. Both Shields and his men had little combat experience and easily fell into the trap. Abad and his 250 soldiers opened fire on the column, which led to a fire-fight that lasted for several hours. Meanwhile, as the Americans and Philippine riflemen exchanged fire, the large force of Filipino bolomen began maneuvering to surround the Americans.
Shields, seeing that he was almost completely surrounded, ordered a withdrawal, which soon turned into a full blown retreat, as Abad's much larger force poured over the ridge after Shields and his men. The Filipino soldiers harassed Shields for nearly four miles (6 km) before cornering them in a small rice field; their escape to Santa Cruz was cut off by the large force of Filipino bolomen. Abad's men again opened fire, forcing the Americans to take cover behind some paddy dikes.
Shields, recognizing the futility of the situation, raised the white flag in order to surrender. Abad's men disregarded it and fell upon the totally encircled Americans firing and hacking away with bolo knives. In the fight, Shields fell severely wounded, shot through the shoulder and neck.


Men of the 29th volunteer infantry wading ashore on Marinduque April 25 1900
Abad, observing that the Americans were trying to surrender, regained control of his men before any more surrendering Americans were slaughtered, and the survivors were led away as prisoners.
After months of hiding, Abad in only a few hours eliminated nearly one third of the American garrison on Marinduque.

The Battle of Pulang Lupa Monument

Melnine in front of the Monument

It's my first time to see the Historical Site

Students hide from the sun

Me and my friend Melnine of Buenavista, Marinduque are lucky to get the chance to see the celebration of the Battle of Pulang Lupa this year. It was a sunny day so we got ourselves to the site easily, the "roughroad" seems to be not so rough at all.

from this vantage point you can see the Islands of Maniwaya and Mongpong in Santa Cruz and the Island of Salomague in Torrijos

My Friend Melnine Salvacion

It was my first time to see the site and I enjoyed it a lot, specially the breathtaking view of the Islands of Maniwaya, Mongpong (in Santa Cruz) and Salomague (in Torrijos), the fishing villages and the town proper of Torrijos, and the Volcano Mountain of Malindig.

You can also see a cove from which the locals say that it is where the "Golden Galleon" (that roams the coasts of Marinduque) disappears and seems to be entering the main island of Marinduque, these were from the local folktales, supported by testimonies of local fishermen.

Arriving exactly high noon, we encountered a group of Riders preparing to depart, they were all in full motorcycle gears. A bunch of students, a couple of extreme bikers and some locals tourists enjoying the view, hiding from the sun rays under the trees were the few who remained in the site. Melnine and I lingered until two in the afternoon, we even met Mel's cousin James, a pretty lady from Santa Cruz and their "barkadas".

There's trash in the site, probably from those students we saw.

REMEMBER ALWAYS: Do not Litter! Leave nothing but footprints.

^_^

Happy Marinduque Day!

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+credits to Dave for the additional pics I've posted